THE MARE Alix breaks the world's trotting record one day. I see her heels flash down the dust of an Illinois race track on a summer afternoon. I see the timekeepers put their heads together over stopwatches, and call to the grand stand a split second is clipped off the old world's record and a new world's record fixed.

I see the mare Alix led away by men in undershirts and streaked faces. Dripping Alix in foam of white on the harness and shafts. And the men in undershirts kiss her ears and rub her nose, and tie blankets on her, and take her away to have the sweat sponged.

I see the grand stand jammed with prairie people yelling themselves hoarse. Almost the grand stand and the crowd of thousands are one pair of legs and one voice standing up and yelling hurrah.

I see the driver of Alix and the owner smothered in a fury of handshakes, a mob of caresses. I see the wives of the driver and owner smothered in a crush of white summer dresses and parasols.

Hours later, at sundown, gray dew creeping on the sod and sheds, I see Alix again:
      Dark, shining-velvet Alix,
      Night-sky Alix in a gray blanket,
      Led back and forth by a ******.
      Velvet and night-eyed Alix
      With slim legs of steel.

And I want to rub my nose against the nose of the mare Alix.

BCBG Max Azria, with its 570 brick-and-mortar boutiques, is the latest American retail firm to fall prey to digital competition.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the fashion label, one of three under the BCBG Max Azria Group umbrella, which also includes Herve Leger and BCBGeneration, is closing several stores and shifting its focus to e-commerce, wholesaling through other retailers and licensing.

Said Seth Lubove, a spokesman for BCBG at Sitrick & Co., "Like so many other great brands, BCBG has been negatively impacted by the growth in online sales and shifts in customer shopping patterns and, as a result, has too large a physical retail footprint."

The company founded by Max Azria in 1989 (which stands for the French phrase "bon chic, bon genre") peaked in the mid-2000s, finding favor on the red carpets with tween darlings Lauren Conrad, Camilla Belle and Miley Cyrus, the latter of whom collaborated with Azria on a short-lived Walmart collection in 2009.

One of the most powerful figures to emerge from the L.A. fashion scene in the last 25 years, Azria, an immigrant from Tunisia, was early to the idea of democratizing fashion, selling gowns in the $500 range and showing them on the runway in New York to lend a high-fashion patina. He built an international empire that once boasted $1 billion in retail sales.

He is married to Lubov Azria, chief creative officer of the BCBG Max Azria Group. The West Coast couple made headlines in 2015 for selling their Beverly Hills estate for $85 million.

BCBG Max Azria has struggled over the past few years, hampered by overly aggressive brand extensions and retail expansion plans, and increased competition from fast fashion giants Zara and H&M.; Last year, 123 employees were laid off from its Vernon, Calif.-based offices. The company has hired Alix Partners LP to restructure its debt load, although, according toBloomberg's sources, the company isn't in risk of bankruptcy.

Just last week, fellow L.A.-based retailer American Apparel announced the closure of all 110 of its retail stores. Other mall fixtures, including Macy's and Sears, also announced store closures scheduled for early 2017, and all of The Limited stores closed this month.Read more at:http://www.marieaustralia.com/bridesmaid-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/red-carpet-celebrity-dresses

I dig Joe Rogan
Suheir Hammad
And Alix Olson
Truth seeking
Artists

I dig Howard Zinn
And Noam Chomsky
Dead intellectuals
Truth seekers

I dig Marty
McConnell
And Jason Carny
Poet lovers
Of Humanity

I dig Shakespeare
Mark Twain
Edgar Allen Poe
Emily Dickenson
John Keats
Percy Shelley
Ginsburg and the other Beats
Writers and poets
I will never meet

I dig The Daily Show
The Colbert Report
The John Oliver Show
The Young Turks
News and fake news
Comedy Shows
That expose
Deep truth

I don’t dig me
Always
But I like you
And all the potential
You hold
You are not a black hole
But a blazing star
Waiting to blow
Waiting to be born
The only good form
Of a hydrogen bomb

That reminds me
I dig Einstein
Tesla, Da Vinci
Gandhi Thoreau
Bruce Lee
Great Minds
That are dead

My list goes on
Forever in my head
So instead of
A dissertation of love
I would like to know

Who do you dig bro?

THE ALLAN FAMILY STORY, THE BOOZING PARTY


YOU SEE, LIKE MOST YOUNG DUDES, I LIKE PARTYING ANDS I HAD

TO CELEBRATE THE END OF SCHOOL SOMEHOW, SO I ASKED DAD

AND MUM, IF I CAN INVITE ALL MY MATES, FROM SCHOOL, LIKE STEVE

AND ALL THE OTHER GANG FROM RAID BASKETBALL, YA SEE PARTIES START

AS A GOOD THING, BUT MY PARENTS ENDED UP BEING A FREE TAXI SERVICE

FOR ALL THOSE DRUNKEN PARTY GOERS, AND YES, I WANTED THE PARTY

BECAUSE I LIKED THE ATMOSPHERE OF ALIX’S PARTY AND ALL MY OTHER FAMILY’S PARTIES

YA SEE, MY DAD AND MUM, ARE VERY HELPFUL AS THEY DROVE EVERYONE HOME THAT NIGHT

YOU SEE, THEY HAD ROPE, AND I VISIONED THEY WERE GOING TO TIE ME UP WITH IT

SAYING, I AM NOT A COOL KID, BUT I KNEW THE MATES I WAS NEAR, WERE THE BEST MATES FOR ME

YOU SEE, I CAN’T STAND, HOME PARTIES, SINCE THAT DAY, CAUSE EDDIE WAS GOING

I AM SURE THERE WAS A FEW GATECRASHERS, AND I REMEMBER, THAT THE YOUNGER DUDES

WERE MY BEST MATES I EVER HAD, CAUSE, THEY PARTIED WITH ME BETTER, AND WE MADE

A FEW MISTAKES, AND I AM SURE I HEARD STEVE SING

LIVING NEXT DOOR TO ALAN BY RODNEY RUDE AND OTHER GREAT RODNEY RUDE SONGS

YOU SEE, I WAS DRUNK ON *****, BACK THEN, YA KNOW IWAS SINGING, EVERY HEAVY METAL

SONG AND PATRICK WAS PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES, WITH HIS BROTHERS, YOU SEE, I LIKED

THE IDEA, OF A PARTY LIKE THIS, BUT AS MUCH AS I DISAGEE WITH MY PARENTS PARTY MODE

I DO BELIEVE IN THEY DID THAT FOR LOVE, BUT, I WANTED ALL MY MATES TO TREAT ME LIKE

A REGULAR TEENAGERS, HAVING A PARTY, I JUST WANTED ALL THESE DUDES TO LIKE ME

NOT TIE ME UP, NOT PRETEND TO BE GAY, NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS

I STILL WANT HOME PARTIES, IT’S FUN, BUT I MUST GROW UP AND BE A ARTIST A WRITER ABD A YOUTUBE ENTERTAINER

DAD WAS WORRIED THAT NOBODY WANTED TO MUCK WITH ME, IN COOL DUDE GROUPS

I DON’T WANT TO BE A LITTLE PARENTS BOY, ANYMORE

I WANT TO HAVE FRIENDS OVER TO MY HOUSE FOR PARTIES

THAT IS WHY I GAVE UP MY JOB, TO BECOME AN ARTIST WRITER AND PLAY ACTOR

I PERFORM ON YOUTUBE, TO MAKE MEV FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF

I HATED THAT PARTY, EVERYONE WAS EVERYWHERE, I HATE BEING TREATED LIKE AN ADULT THAT NOBODY LIKES

I WAS SHOWING MY BROTHER, WHO USED TO SAY, PARTYING ISN’T THE RIGHT THING FOR YOU BRIAN

HA HA HA HA HA HA, I SAID, YEAH IT’S THE RIGHT THING FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR ME

WHETHER I WAS SHY BACK THEN OR NOT, THIS IS WHAT I AM FEELING

I STILL LIKE PARTYING THOUGH, AND THAT IS HOW MY PARENTS BECAME SPECIAL TAXI SERVICES FOR THE DRUNK

I PARTY ON YOUTUBE, NOW, AND I AM PROUD OF IT
AND I PARTY IN CLUBS AND ON THE ROADS

I AM CAREFUL THOUGH THAT I DON’T GET BULLIED

I AM AN ALLAN, ALIEN FROM THE PLANET FUN

WHICH MEANS I AM THE ONLY FUN DUDE AROUND